Chapter 607: 690 Chen Mo deeply loved by the people_2
"Master didn’t, I just wanted to scare it. When it was stealing fish just now, I caught it red-handed. It finally lost some weight during this period, and now it’s stealing food again..."
Little Jiu waved its paws at Chen Mo, as if expressing its anger over Fanqiu’s fish stealing.
Chen Mo relayed to Ye Wanqiu: "Fanqiu just stole some fish to eat again and was caught by Little Jiu on the spot, so it wanted to scare Fanqiu a bit, but it won’t really eat it. Don’t worry, Wanqiu."
With a sigh of relief, Ye Wanqiu straightened her waist and, with a slightly coquettish tone, said, "Prince, Fanqiu has lost a lot of weight recently, maybe we shouldn’t let Little Jiu keep an eye on it..."
Ye Wanqiu hugged Chen Mo’s arm and gently shook it.
A trace of unnoticed jealousy flashed in Little Jiu’s eyes.
"Little Jiu is also doing it for the good of Fanqiu. It’s so fat it can’t even climb trees. Losing weight is a matter of perseverance, and now that it’s showing results, we should even more insist on it. If Little Jiu doesn’t watch it, Fanqiu would probably gain back all the lost weight in a day."
Fanqiu won’t diligently lose weight on its own. There are no tomcats in the manor, and it either eats and sleeps or sleeps and eats every day. Without Little Jiu pushing it to exercise, it would probably get so fat it would look like a ball, matching its name.
"Can it really work?" Ye Wanqiu hesitated. The reason she said this was because every time she rested at night, Fanqiu would come in front of her, acting pitiful, meowing weakly.
"Of course it works, isn’t it already showing results?"
Chen Mo skillfully wrapped his arm around Ye Wanqiu’s waist, and then whispered, "Where’s Nichang?"
Feeling the large hand exploring her waist, Ye Wanqiu blushed slightly. Ever since that night, every time the Prince pampered her or Consort Yu, he would call on both of them together...
Gradually, Ye Wanqiu got used to it and said, "She’s playing cards with Xin’Er and the others."
"Come, let’s go play cards as well."
"Just the two of us?"
"Just the two..."
"Husband, you’re terrible..." Understanding the true meaning of these words, Ye Wanqiu squeezed her legs slightly and coquettishly patted Chen Mo’s chest.
Chen Mo laughed as he picked her up and walked towards the room.
Little Jiu, left out, had a hint of resentment in its eyes. As it watched the two of them leave, not knowing what it recalled, the resentment turned to shyness. Its tail split from one into two, and a few breaths later, the extra tail disappeared.
...
Chen Mo pulled back all the troops to firmly guard the Capital. Due to repeated changes in the regions, defenses were weak, and there were no troops stationed.
After Zhao Jiang’s army broke through Cold Water Pass, it advanced like a hot knife through butter, with no resistance wherever it went.
In just under three days, the vanguard troops arrived at Nanyang County.
This was not Zhao Jiang’s first visit to Nanyang.
Last time he came, Nanyang was in ruins, with refugees everywhere.
But this time, life blossomed everywhere, and all the homes destroyed that day were rebuilt.
There wasn’t a single refugee seen in the city.
He even saw many newly opened shops.
The wastelands outside the city had been cultivated.
Waterwheels were built in the streams to irrigate the fields.
The whole of Nanyang County presented a scene of peace.
Instead, it was their arrival that made the people hide, with doors and windows tightly shut, as if they were warding off the plague god.
Even when Zhao Jiang claimed to be here to save them and promised not to harm them, begging them to come out, no one believed him.
After a long while, when he finally heard some noise from a house, Zhao Jiang smiled, thinking the people inside were coming out to welcome them, only to realize he was overthinking it because the house’s owner was moving a table to block the door.
The smile on Zhao Jiang’s face suddenly froze.
The personal soldiers, angry, were about to rush forward to kick the door open and drag out the people inside.
My prince is a royal prince; could he possibly harm you? Is it necessary to avoid him like he’s a venomous snake or scorpion?
Zhao Jiang stopped them.
This is the final battle. In the future, when he becomes the emperor, these people will be his subjects, and he cannot do anything like demolishing their homes now.
Arriving at Nanyang City.
A statue stood tall in the city.
The statue was surprisingly not of the emperor or any immortal, but Chen Mo.
A monument was erected in front of the statue, inscribed with Chen Mo’s life story.
Erecting a statue and engraving a monument for a living person was unprecedented in the history of the Great Song Imperial Dynasty.
The "Yan Army" generals who saw the statue were all taken aback.
One of Zhao Jiang’s confidants sneered, "What a self-promoting Prince Zhen Nan. I think he’s just a fame-seeker, forcing people to engrave monuments and erect statues to satisfy his own selfish desires."
This confidant was also familiar with Nanyang. After several rebellions, the people could barely afford food. Would they willingly erect a monument and statue for Chen Mo?
The only answer must be that Chen Mo forced them.
After all, Chen Mo was still the State Governor of Nanyang County.
Some of the Jianghu people who had a good impression of Chen Mo couldn’t help but furrow their brows.
Just then.
People in a nearby house, upon hearing someone insulting Prince Zhen Nan, rushed out resolutely with a hoe, disregarding their family’s obstruction, glaring fiercely at the person who insulted Prince Zhen Nan, and shouted:
"No insulting Prince Zhen Nan!"
If it weren’t for Prince Zhen Nan, his entire family would have died during the initial rebellion.
If it weren’t for Prince Zhen Nan, he wouldn’t have his own farmland, a house to shelter from the rain and wind, food to eat, or the stable life he has now...
Prince Zhen Nan is his great benefactor. If it weren’t for his crippled leg, he would have already joined Prince Zhen Nan’s army, and he would never allow anyone to insult his benefactor.
"Who are you?"
The sudden appearance of the man startled Zhao Jiang and his men, and the nearby personal soldiers immediately seized him and brought him before Zhao Jiang.
"I don’t change my name when walking, nor when sitting. I’m Wang San," Wang San shouted fearlessly.
"Why do you attack the prince?" Zhao Jiang asked in a deep voice.
But Wang San did not look at Zhao Jiang, still glaring at the person who insulted Prince Zhen Nan, and shouted: "No insulting Prince Zhen Nan."
His words amused that person, who said: "What did Prince Zhen Nan give you to make you defend him so fervently?"
"The Prince saved my life and gave us a stable life," Wang San shouted.
"Hmph." The person snorted coldly, saying, "Typical of someone who’s been sold yet helps count the money. From what I know, he set up a bank, took advantage of the chaos to buy land from the people at extremely low prices, and then sold it at high prices, lining his own pockets..."
"You’re talking nonsense." Before he could finish, Wang San interrupted him, retorting: "It’s true the Prince set up a bank, but it was all for us, giving us money to survive, and later allowing us to buy it back at extremely low prices.
Plus, the bank helped us build waterwheels, purchase seedlings, and absolutely nothing like you said about lining personal pockets. The Prince strictly punished officials who oppressed us and exempted us from three years of taxes."
"That was the Imperial Court’s exemption, not him, as Prince Zhen Nan, personally." But the person’s words lacked confidence; everyone knew that the court listened to Prince Zhen Nan, and Nanyang County was under his jurisdiction. He had the authority to exempt local taxes.
Wang San, who had read a few years’ worth of books, listened to this and looked at him mockingly without speaking.
The person felt embarrassed and said, "What about this statue in front of us? Wasn’t he the one who forced you to build it?"
"No forcing; we all built it ourselves to thank Prince Zhen Nan," Wang San said.
"Nonsense." The person clearly didn’t believe it; this statue was three zhang high and made of bronze, which must have cost a lot of silver. Would the people willingly spend that money?
"That’s the fact. If you don’t believe it, you can ask others." Wang San raised his head and said.
In fact, the statue was mainly led by Fu Bi, with more than half funded by the bank. Later, the people participated as well.
Fu Bi didn’t tell anyone about this, so Wang San naturally didn’t know.
However, this matter was no longer important. Seeing Wang San defending Chen Mo so fiercely, one could infer that Chen Mo was deeply loved by the people in Nanyang, which was not good news for Zhao Jiang.
And the Jianghu experts who had just misunderstood Chen Mo couldn’t help but feel ashamed.
Prince Zhen Nan was such a righteous person, he was indeed suitable to be the common lord of the world.
Several of them exchanged glances, having made up their minds.
